Xavier hovered inside his time dilation field, the black ooze on his hand, crawling up his skin.

  He could feel the mind of The Nightmare. The demonic beast that he had spent so much time decimating upon the Dark Mountains. Hastening the speed within the time dilation field had been more than enough to cut the bit of black ooze off from the demon’s main mind.

  Xavier was more careful with his mental barriers this time, and with his different split mind. He’d never realised that an enemy could be so subtle with their mental attacks that they could have some manner of control over him without him ever even knowing.

  It gave him ideas—ways that he might be able to use his Willpower Infusion spell in the future.

  But that wasn’t something he had the energy or opportunity to dwell on right now.

  Xavier had just cast Willpower Infusion on the black oozing substance, after doing two things—speeding up the time inside the time dilation field so that it would be too fast for The Nightmare to adjust to the time lag, and moving Soul Energy away from his hand so that his Body Cultivation spell wouldn’t repel the black ooze.

  Having felt the sheer power of The Nightmare, Xavier had worried he might be biting off more than he could chew.

  But the Willpower Infusion spell worked instantly. He was in control of the black ooze within the time dilation field. He could feel the larger connection it had to the rest of its mind, even though that was cut off by the time lag, it still remained.

  Mental Resistance has reached Rank 91!

  …

  Mental Resistance has reached Rank 93!

  Xavier raised an eyebrow as the notifications were brought to his attention by another part of his mind. If that skill was ranking up, clearly it meant that right now his mind was under attack.

  The Nightmare is trying to take hold of me once more, even through the time lag.

  Good.

  That’s exactly what he had been counting on.

  Xavier had controlled The Nightmare to varying to degrees on two other occasions. The first time was when he had first encountered it, and it had been an accident—one that had gotten both him and Liana out of danger.

  The second time had been on purpose, to command as much of the ooze to eradicate itself.

  Both of those times, he had taken control while inside his time dilation field, but he had only taken control of the greater part of The Nightmare that first time once he had shut down the time dilation field, and only because the demon hadn’t known he was influencing it.

  Now, the demon would be fully aware of what he was trying to do.

  But Xavier wasn’t simply going to drop the time dilation while controlling this small part of the greater whole and hope that he would be able to fight off the beast enough when the thing came down.

  No, he had a far better plan in his mind than that.

  Xavier carved the time dilation field through the air, aiming for somewhere down on the ground. When he reached the ground, he sat, cross-legged, and rested his hands on his knees.

  One deep breath was all he needed to enter a deep, meditative state, one where he was as aware of his own mind as he possibly could be.

  Xavier let out a long breath. He expanded his consciousness into that of the black ooze connected to him. This helped him feel the greater connection to the demonic beast.

  The connection was faint. Far away. Difficult to grab hold of.

  Xavier tilted his head to the side. He had expected the connection to grow stronger. The Nightmare had been able to adjust to the time lag last time.

  He smiled.

  It’s too weak to do it again. Good. Besides, last time it had taken a while before it had actually been able to do it.

  Still, he knew the demon’s mind would be wounded, just as its body was wounded.

  I might actually be able to pull this off.

  Xavier slowly expanded his mind into that of The Nightmare’s. Though the connection was faint, and time worked differently within the field than it did without, this was still something he’d theorised he would be able to do.

  This wasn’t the same way he’d taken over the demon’s mind the first time. That had happened all at once. And it had been subtle, for the demon hadn’t known.

  This was decidedly not subtle.

  Xavier was carving his way through the beast’s mind with sheer force of will. His own mind expanded through The Nightmare’s, and with it his awareness of the world grew beyond where he sat, cross-legged, with his eyes closed.

  But the connection was still too weak. Far too weak. Even if he gained control, he sensed that he wouldn’t be able to command this thing to free the Denizens trapped within it due to the time lag—his will would not be understood at the speed that he was currently at.

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  Nor would he be able to give The Nightmare the command he truly desired to deliver.

  So Xavier had to do something about that.

  Slowly, he adjusted down the speed at which time moved within the time dilation field. As he did, the connection he had to The Nightmare’s mind grew stronger and stronger. Xavier felt more and more aware of it. It began to fight back—

  But it wasn’t strong enough to thwart Xavier’s mental attacks, not with how wounded it had become. It was a shell of its former self. Xavier could feel the massive, gaping wound within it.

  Before, the beast’s mind had been a colossal, powerful thing. Now, that mind hadn’t just been defanged, it had been crushed. Over and over again.

  Xavier’s mind flowed through that of the demon’s. In mere moments, his consciousness controlled every part of it.

  And all he needed to do was utter one simple command:

  Die.

  On his wish, The Nightmare destroyed itself.

  A kill notification sprung up in his vision.

  Xavier opened his eyes and released a long breath. The time dilation field was still up. Things were still frozen out there.

  He shut down the field.

  The black ooze that was the remainder of the body of the demon simply… burst into nothing.

  The beasts and Champions that had been stuck within the beast fell out, slamming into the ground beneath them in a tumble. Xavier winced. He probably could have done something about that, but as far as he could tell the injuries these people had received were rather minimal. They would all be D Grade. They could survive a fall like that without a worry.

  Xavier eyed the beasts that had been trapped by The Nightmare. They were the typical beasts that roamed around these mountains, with even a Stone Bear being in their midst.

  Xavier thought the beasts might attack the Denizens, or even attack him. But instead of doing that, they all looked his way. Wolven. Giant owls. Rock Worms. They gave him one, quick look, and then they fled.

  Xavier felt fear waft off the beasts, and he hadn’t even needed to activate Fear Dominion for that to happen.

  The Champions who had been stuck inside The Nightmare didn’t go after the beasts. They looked… dazed. Confused. Xavier had to wonder how long each of them had been stuck inside of that demon.

  He thought on it for a moment, thinking specifically about Ardon. With time running faster on the hundredth floor than it did outside of it… It would all depend on how long Liana took to get to this floor after discovering her husband had been trapped here.

  He’s certainly been trapped in that demon for months… But it could very well have been years for all I know.

  Xavier rose from the ground. He could have summoned a portal to get to them faster. He could have extended his wings and flown there. But he didn’t want to startle these people.

  They had been through a lot.

  Xavier simply walked the short distance toward the survivors of The Nightmare.

  He took them all in. A ragged troupe if he ever saw one. Every single one of them had armour or robes that were damaged. Some of them had managed to cling onto their weapons, even after all the time they must have been stuck inside of that thing. Slowly, some of the armour was healing as the more aware Denizens were giving it attention.

  There were more people here than he’d realised at first glance. There must have been Champions stuck beneath the beast’s skin that he simply hadn’t been able to see. That alone made him shudder.

  All in all, forty-two Champions of varying races stood, mulling around in slight confusion and relief below where The Nightmare had died.

  They all looked over at Xavier as he approached. Some of them looked wary of him, while others looked in awe. They knew what he had just done, and to them, it must have seemed utterly impossible. But he had also saved all of their lives.

  It was Ardon who stepped forward. Xavier had locked eyes with the man when he’d still been stuck inside The Nightmare, and he noticed now that it hadn’t just been the beasts who’d been feeling fear—it was these people as well.

  “I sense you already know who I am,” Ardon said. His eyes looked… Pained. The man himself no longer seemed as though his body was hurting, but the type of pain he’d just endured would no doubt linger in his mind long afterward. “Though I’m not sure how you know me, as I am sure I would have remembered someone as formidable as you if our paths crossed. Still, I heard—and felt—the demon taunt you with the threat of my death.” Confusion was written on the man’s face. “Why would you care if I died?”

  Xavier stepped up to the man, then stopped. He looked past Ardon, who was wearing the robes of a mage—the man was a Time Mage just as Liana was—at the other people. Then he locked eyes with Ardon once more.

  “Your wife sent me to save you,” Xavier said. He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s waiting back at Hunter’s Home. She will be very glad to see that you’re still alive.”

  Ardon blinked. “Liana?” he said the name with pained joy. He looked down, and Xavier struggled to read the expression on the man’s face. “But it’s been… It has been so long. I thought she’d forgotten about me. I thought she would have moved on through the tower. Moved on from me…”

  Xavier shook his head. “She almost died trying to save you. If I hadn’t been there, she would have.”

  A flood of notifications threatened to assail his vision, ones he hadn’t yet addressed from the end of the fight. Spells and skills that had received new ranks, and even a title if what he’d glimpsed was correct, but Xavier paid them no mind. He could go through them later. He wasn’t usually a people person, but something told him these few here needed his attention more than his notifications did right now.

  He looked out at the rest of them once more. “I can’t say I have any idea as to what each of you has been through, but I can say that you are all safe now. The Nightmare has been slain, and this floor will never see its like again. You can all return to Hunter’s Home now, and I’ll buy each and every one of you a good meal and a strong drink.”

  Xavier wondered, for a moment, about these people, and the restrictions that were present on the floor. He knew that to complete the floor, one had to not only complete ten Hunt Quests, they had to complete at least one of those each week—even after they’d done ten, assuming they wanted to remain on the floor.

  Every single one of these people wouldn’t have been able to complete a single Hunt Quest while they were stuck inside The Nightmare. That meant that the System would be sending them straight back to their floors very soon. Xavier wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but he figured as they were trapped by a beast, the System wasn’t going to teleport them out of danger just because they reached the end of a time limit.

  Those who haven’t already completed ten Hunt Quests will have failed this floor. They won’t be able to keep moving through the Tower of Champions.

  Something told him that wouldn’t matter too much to these people. At least they had gotten out of this situation with their lives, after all.

  Xavier wondered if they would remain here long enough to even make it back to the tavern. He glanced up at the sky, as though he was looking at the System itself, and hoped it would give these people the closure they needed before simply yanking them away.

  As he’d grown a lot stronger with creating portals, Xavier wondered if he would be able to create one that stretched all the way back to Hunter’s Home. He hadn’t stretched the distance on the portals too much lately, as he’d been working purely on the spell for combat purposes.

  Xavier turned from the group of recently freed Denizens and cast his Portal spell, focusing on the destination he wanted the connecting portal to appear in—the area just outside of Hunter’s Home.

  The portal opened rather easily—more easily than he had expected. He raised an eyebrow as he gained a rank in the spell. It had been a little while since he’d managed that.

  Well, that was easy.

  “Come on through,” Xavier said, motioning toward the portal. “Let’s get you all back to civilisation.”

  A familiar warmth flooded him at the sight of all those Denizens stepping through his portal back to safety.

  He had done that. He had saved these people. He’d been stuck training on this floor for so long he’d almost forgotten how good it felt to help people, and not just slay beasts.

  Accidental Champion!

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